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Since Kafka, the most well-known Czech writer has been expatriate Milan Kundera. While not a consummate post-modernist like Salman Rushdie, Kundera can be difficult to access at first approach. His novels rarely follow a traditional linear storyline, or even a single story in any particular order. If you're interested in his work (and you should be), consider this primer as a way to find the genius of Kundera without stubbing your toe on his experiments. Let's Start At The Beginning (by jumping in the middle): The Unbearable Lightness of Being The Unbearable Lightness of Being is by far Kundera's most famous work. This is likely because it's one of the easiest of his books to follow. Yes, there's a halfway worthwhile film adaptation starring Daniel Day-Lewis, but it won't enhance your understanding or appreciation of the book. It's more a loving imitation than a complementary adaptation. The novel itself follows the lives and trials of a womanizing doctor from Prague named Tomas and a frazzled country girl, Tereza. Their personal dramas take place in front of the backdrop of the Prague Spring and the Soviet occupation that followed. This will introduce you to a common approach used by Kundera. Rather than attempting to write a sweeping epic about history, his novels focus intimately on the characters whose lives are altered but not defined by politics. Unbearable Lightness will also be an introduction to one of Kundera's better structural modes. He chooses to write in sections, further broken up into segments that sometimes run as short as a page and half. It's a slightly more choppy version of what Marguerite Duras does with her novel-length works. This not only helps the pacing of Kundera's work, it also makes it easier to mentally manage his many characters and intricate plot threads. In a book that jumps back and forth through time, such a device is essential. Moving Right Along To The Start: The Joke Milan Kundera's first novel and the seed of his eventual exit from his native country, The Joke is at once more straightforward than The Unbearable Lightness of Being and more pleasantly meandering. Whereas Unbearable Lightness was written long after Kundera settled in the West and was arguably written more for a Western audience, The Joke is Czech at its core. Kundera's sense of humor is appropriately present in this novel but it's tinged with a melancholy and absurdity that can distract from the overall message of the book if one isn't expecting it. Like Unbearable Lightness, The Joke travels through time and frequently changes perspective, only this time the shifts don't occur within a single social circle. The title itself refers to a life-changing goof by an insincere communist named Jaroslav, but his story shares space with the adventures of a medieval Czech king, among others. The chapters here are typically longer and more involved than in Kundera's later work but the pacing is still fairly brisk. This is one author who won't waste your time with fifteen pages about a character's eating habits. Once you get into the rhythm of The Joke, you'll be ready to tackle some varsity-level Milan Kundera. Rounding Out To Exhaustion: The Book of Laughter and Forgetting Anyone attempting to give a synopsis of The Book of Laughter and Forgetting is really missing the point. The only consistent presence in the novel is Kundera himself, whose authorial voice does the literary equivalent of breaking the fourth wall for much of the book. The contents, which shouldn't really be called a "story", are a series of increasingly brief vignettes about a wide collection of individuals. Kundera includes bits of autobiography and sometimes breaks from any storytelling at all to explain certain concepts, like the Czech word Litost. The greatest value of this work is that it's heavy with Milan Kudera the teacher. Especially in the past two decades, Kundera has shown a deepening interest in literary theory. Laughter and Forgetting is like an essay and a prime example of the writer's understanding of the art rolled into one. It's a wonderful journey if you're willing to go along with him and you'll never read any novel the same again. The book manages to be occasionally academic without being pedantic and it dips into surrealism without losing focus. While coming to this novel first of all Kundera's work would likely turn a reader off to him for good, being able to approach The Book of Laughter and Forgetting with an understanding of the author's unique style makes it one of the most enjoyable, impactful reading experiences one can have.